What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here: http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx
All About Eve is on the following AFI lists:
The Original Top 100 (#16)
100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains (Eve Harrington is the #23 villain)
100 Movie Quotes (#9 - Margo Channing: "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night.")
The Revised Top 100 (#28)
Thanks to Netflix, I moved right along down the AFI Original list to the next entry, All About Eve, which I had never seen before. I knew about it only vaguely and mostly knew only random factoids, such as the short but memorable turn by Marilyn Monroe as an aspiring, ditzy actress of questionable talent. By the way, she was far less annoying and much funnier in this picture than she was in Some Like It Hot, but I digress. I also knew the famous quote uttered by Bette Davis' Margo Channing, diva extraordinaire, about fastening some seatbelts. I looked forward to watching this film because of its fabulous cast, and as a theater person, I couldn't go wrong with a premise surrounding the dramatic theatrical world. In fact, I was kind of excited and, to wit, my excitement was well-rewarded. All About Eve is an outstanding film, as entertaining as it is artistically sound, and since I watch films for both qualities (give me art and entertainment, I want it all!), I was very happy.
The Eve of the title is Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), who has seen every performance by theatrical tour de force Margo Channing (Davis, in her own tour de force performance and the best of her career). Margo's best friend, Karen Richards (Celeste Holm), takes pity on Eve, huddled in the stage doorway in the rain, and brings her to Margo's dressing room to meet her idol. Eve tells a heart-wrenching story to support what I would consider an unsettling fanaticism for Margo, about her poor upbringing and tragic marriage ending in the death of her war hero husband, and soon everyone, including the viewer, forgets the fact that Eve saw every single performance of Margo's latest play and seemingly stalks her too. Margo is so taken with the adoration (as any actress can be), she hires Eve as an assistant and gives her a home, but Margo, and her knowing head of household Birdie, see that Eve is more than she seems after awhile. Things begin to happen without Margo's knowledge, mostly surrounding her lover and director Bill Sampson (Gary Merrill), and Margo's natural insecurities about her advancing age (she reveals she's 40) and her status as the actress of the moment feed into other, more conspiratorial notions about Eve. While everyone around Margo, including Karen and her playwright husband Lloyd, who writes parts specifically for Margo, thinks she's simply being crazy and theatrical - the consummate actress - they soon realize that Margo's instincts may be right. What doesn't help matters is that acid critic and columnist, Addison DeWitt (George Sanders), takes a personal interest in Eve, resulting in a revealing column praising Eve's performance after she fills in as Margo's understudy - a position into which she manipulated herself without Margo's knowledge to begin with.
I have to say, I really loved this film. I'm a theater person myself, though I mostly play the role of techie or stage manager and occasionally director. Diva actresses are a relatable topic, and Director Joseph L. Manciewicz's ingenius screenplay, taking gentle but uncompromised swipes at the world and society of theater, was simply brilliant, and his Oscars were well-deserved. The script was so smart, so clever, and so wittily ascerbic, there were some true moments of sardonic comedy that played very well in this satire. The dialogue was amazing, and the story was original, complete with some intriguing shades of gray. Some of it may seem dated, but I actually think it has a timeless relevance. After all, the theater isn't going anywhere, and as Lloyd Richards eloquently jibes, "Actresses never die!"
And those actresses! The women rule this movie, which is probably another reason why I love it. I mean, Margo and Eve are two of the juiciest roles I've ever seen, and Bette and Anne played them to perfection. Bette Davis in particular was stunning as Margo; she gave Margo a complex and multilayered existence with many emotional undercurrents that were all at once human and otherworldly. Her quiet philosophical moments were just as entertaining as her temper tantrums, and her delivery of some of those fantastically bitchy barbs were so unique, original, imitated but never duplicated, and awesome. The "fasten your seatbelts" quote is so notable and so famous because dear Bette made it that way.
Yet, Anne Baxter was also brilliant, playing this ambitious young upstart with impenetrable moral ambiguity, until her goose is finally cooked, and she lets loose. Eve is arguably a good kid at heart, but her greed and ambition and addiction for applause consume her. She makes you want to feel sorry for her and cheer for her, even though you knew all along that she was a conniving little minx. That's a great performance on many levels, not only for the audience but for the characters she was trying to fool.
Then, there was George Sanders. His appearance in the film was limited to, perhaps, a third, but his portrayal of the snake-like Addison made the character one the audience hates to love or loves to hate. He won the Oscar too, and I couldn't argue with it.
From a filmmaking perspective, I don't think there was anything particularly novel, except for the awesome costumes. I never noticed the score or any particular camera use or prop or setting that screamed groundbreaking or innovative to me, but that's not to say that these aspects weren't completely competent. For me, All About Eve was the whole package, but the true art lies in the story and the performances.
My only problem with this film was the ending (vaguely spoilery ahead). It felt rushed. Margo's last barb to Eve lacked some of the punch of her earlier ones, and taking the focus away from Margo and Eve to focus on the cycle beginning anew felt somewhat anticlimactic to me. Maybe I was hoping for a more traditional comeuppance that I could witness, rather than the hint of what was to come. It wasn't just that, though. It just felt like there was a rush to get it done and to break with the characters, particularly with Eve, the seemingly misunderstood antagonist. It just didn't feel right to me, but I don't think the ending was necessarily bad either. It fit in a sense, but it also didn't fit in a sense. It's hard to explain.
And it's what keeps from giving this film a 10 for being a masterpiece. But, I will give it a 9.5, between masterpiece and perfectly entertaining. Also, I think this film passes the test. It has all the film ingredients that work for me, including a relatable story based on an interesting and relatable premise that makes me want to show my theater friends why it should be All About Eve (and that would be easiest if I bought it). I highly recommend this flick. It also contains some remarkably candid and not untrue observations about women, then and now, without sexist undertones. For 1950, that was an amazing feat in and of itself.